Chapter 8
The loud crash resounds throughout the house, and Pepper immediately knows it is him. She finds him in the bathroom, collapsed on the floor. For a brief second, she relives her worst nightmare and flashes back to when she had last seen him like this, when he had been lying there, dying on the pavement. Except this time, his cure is killing him.
She thinks he is dead until she presses her long fingers to his neck and feels the pulse there and sees the steady, unfailing light of the arc reactor. His breathing is ragged, irregular, and she wonders for a minute how to do CPR with the arc reactor in the way. But then, he opens his eyes with a gasp and rolls onto his side, coughing and struggling for breath. "What… happened?" He pants after a few seconds.
She is still stunned. "Y-you passed out," she stutters. "Tony, what's going on?" He mumbles something in reply, but she can't make out the words. "What?"
He looks her straight in the eye, and she can see that he is afraid. "The Extremis is killing me." He says.
She stands in front of him, hands characteristically on her hips, trying to be tough even though it's apparent that she is distraught. "Tony," she begins, "You have to – you have to solve this. You have to find a way, I know you can." Her voice breaks and her eyes well up. He doesn't like to see her like this. She is such a strong person that it's rare to see her in pieces, and this hurts him.
Then he knows that he will find a way to rewrite his brain to accommodate Extremis. If not for himself, then for her. Because he can't stand to see her like this.
Tony will find a solution. He may not know where to start or how to accomplish it, but he will find a way.
He always does.
This is the end of the first part. The second part is almost done, so I will begin posting it soon.
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